John Green is one of the few who’ve made me laugh and cry in one moment. Also, I’ve been laughing throughout the book, but for some reason, I burst out crying as I finished. Maybe because I didn’t want it to end, or maybe because I have never read something so beautiful.

I wonder how he came up with this brilliantly-constructed plot, how artistically he sculpted each character making such a hard-to-put-down book. I bet it wasn’t easy.

And it’s worthy to mention that this’s the first time I wasn’t offended by a Muslim character. Some aspects of Hassan’s beliefs weren’t so accurate as well as some of the Arabic, but still,I find the effort John Green put in this story very remarkable and impressive.

I let out a long “Awwww!” when I finished reading. This is one of the best-written books I have ever encountered, and Emma Orczy has officially become my top favourite classic female writer (yes, she has just surpassed Jane Austen)!

I was amazed by her assembly of words since the opening paragraph. Although the plot is so predictable, that you solve all the mysteries before she exposes them, although there were points were I felt that Marguerite, the smartest woman in Europe, couldn’t be that foolish, and other points where the pace was almost stagnant, I couldn’t help but enjoy and feel entertained by every line. After all, Emma Orczy still managed to make me fall for The Scarlet Pimpernel and his audacious wits! 🙂

I have just published a new book on Wattpad! A collection of flash fiction pieces about strangers who cross our path. Feel free to check the first chapter! I would really appreciate it if you took the time to read it. Here’s the link:

That was sweet, and heart-breaking; my favourite kind of romance.I couldn’t fully relate to the eighties, but I certainly did relate to Eleanor; mostly her insecurities,and how her life is a mess.

“In your life, things happen for reasons. People make sense. But that’s not my life. Nobody in my life makes sense.”

The author wanted you to know that no matter who you are, or how you look like, you can always find love, and I liked that. She was also right, because love shouldn’t be a fairytale, it’s never like fairy tales.This book pretty much reminds me of Paper Towns; precisely the gasp I let out when I realized I hit the last page.

P. S. This book, however, promotes racism, and is full of cussing and F words. (Hence the 4 stars).

Like this:

I did not hate the book, however, I did also not love it. When I started formatting this review inside my head, I realized that I was trying too hard to like the novel.

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I haven’t read any Medieval fantasies before this one, but I do know what they’re all about, and George R. R. Martin hasn’t gotten out of the cliché zone of high fantasies. Dragons and zombies? Really?!

It could’ve been written way better. “A Game of Thrones” obviously portrays many “high lords” in dispute, that’s fine. But the historical background of the characters and settings were crammed in a dull, monotonous narrative. The author ignored the “common people”; I believe the story would’ve been much deeper and richer if he paid as much attention their cultures and how they lived.

There were points though, where I honestly loved the way he demonstrated and vividly painted the scenes. Sadly, he kept repeating himself, and at some point, I started noticing the abuse of adverbs and some adjectives. I have to admit that I felt attached at some parts to characters and engaged to the story, yet these were transient moments. Martin failed to keep me immersed.

Despite all the flaws, I would’ve been looking forward to the second book, if it wasn’t for misogyny and graphic scenes.

How often have words like “whores”, “wenches”, “sluts” been addressed to women? How many vulgar referrals to women’s body parts? And the undue descriptions, those I refrain from mentioning! This ugly reduction of women into mere tools of pleasure is sick. I did feel offended, and angry.

Now to the graphic content. Well, I’m totally against demonstrating intimate sexual details, I see no point of it whatsoever, and Martin writes like dirty-minded teenager, really. I always skip such paragraphs, but still, you don’t need to read to know they were very graphic, disgustingly graphic. I felt distressed (and threatened) so often throughout this book.

As an aspiring writer, I love to study popular works of fiction, and I did hope to learn anything there, but to my disappointment, there was nothing to learn.

I’m happy that my first encounter with this book was years after high school, for most of the teens I know seem to have tossed the book away, unaware of the literary treasures lying in underneath its words.

Although its narrative, by shallow inspection, isn’t the most engaging, the plot structure is probably one of the richest and the deepest I have ever explored. I can never say the story was boring, because I often was driven to consider different possibilities. And though some twists were solemnly based on mere coincidences, Dickens succeeded in keeping me guessing until the very end.

The themes are timeless; you don’t need to live in the Victorian era to conclude that everybody has a little Pip lingering inside them in varying degrees, longing for a more fortunate life and seeking affection, and a better social class. When it comes to symbols, I find using the “misty marshes” and the “Satis House” very brilliant. You can easily find that each character, symbolized something crucial as well.

Worthy to mention, I felt at many points how pathetic Pip’s fondness of Estella was, for instance when he says:

“Whatever her tone with me happened to be, I could put no trust in it, and build no hope on it; and yet I went on against trust and against hope.”

Also:

“Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation, I associate you only with the good; and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!”

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And finally, as a personal criterion of how touching a story is, I spent the last four chapters weeping. Yes, this is how I know a book deserves 5 stars.

Like this:

Earlier this year, I created a book club group on Facebook. However, only my friends joined and we all were too busy to commit. Now using my cousin’s help, we have revived and expanded our deserted book club into a full, running blog.
Please help us grow by following and sharing! 🙂

Whining about my hospital duties almost made me forget, I have been a NaNoWriMo camper the past month. Although I haven’t met my writing goal, I can count myself a winner; because all my past novelling trials haven’t exceeded 3-4 chapters. This time, however, I managed to write 21 chapters! I am quite certain most of it will end up in trash, but that is just the natural course of writing; you write, delete, write again, delete again, until you wind up having something that wasn’t even on your mind when you started.

My goal was 20000 words, and I ended up with 16899, 5047 words of which I wrote on the last day; that’s a record! I could have cheated and set my time zone to the US timing, and won 7 more hours, but I was pretty satisfied (also pretty tired that my fingers were tingling)!

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The hard work isn’t over, but I think I’m ready to win the next July camp! 😉 😀